Thirteen Hours Until Forever
by CatherineSobieski
Summary: After traversing the Labyrinth, Sarah has led a relatively normal life, so after six years, why is she suddenly stuck with a troublesome goblin who claims to be her protector, and how has Jareth, once again, managed to draw her back to the Underground?
1. Bedtime Stories

**Thirteen Hours Until Forever**

**Summary: ****After traversing the Labyrinth, Sarah has led a relatively normal life, not including the occasional appearances of goblins and other creatures in her bedroom. So after six years, why is she suddenly stuck with a troublesome goblin who claims to be her protector, and how has Jareth, once again, managed to draw her back to Underground?**

**This is my first fanfic ever, so I hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 1**

**Bedtime Stories**

"Toby, you've heard that story at least a hundred times!"

"But it's my favorite!" the seven year old protested. "_Please_, Sarah." He stuck out his lower lip and opened his eyes as wide as they could go.

"Oh, no," Sarah said as she turned away from her brother with one hand over her eyes. "I'm not falling for your puppy-dog look again."

The two siblings sat in Toby's bedroom. Outside it was pitch black as clouds covered the moon and stars. The weatherman had predicted a big storm tonight, and it looked like for once he might be right.

Sarah's father and step-mother were out at a theater performance for the night and had called the twenty-one year old to babysit Toby until they returned. Sarah remembered the days when she could think of nothing worse than babysitting her young half-brother, but ever since _that_ night, she hadn't minded and even looked forward to her nights alone with Toby.

Toby was the only person she had told about her adventures in the Labyrinth, but he didn't know the story was real. The rest of her family had noticed the change in the young girl after that night, though. Sarah Williams was no longer the selfish, naïve fifteen year old she used to be – she was mature and never once complained that something "wasn't _fair_."

Sarah had finished high school with straight B's – a great improvement from her previous C's and D's – and she earned an art scholarship to a local college so she could stay close to her family.

Toby, on the other hand, had gained none of the maturity his sister had during his time in the Labyrinth. He had now filled an entire cabinet in the principal's office with his exploits, the latest being letting a bullfrog loose on his teacher's desk during English class and earning him _another_ detention. Karen, Sarah's step-mother, had at first tried to keep track of the number of times she got a call from the school's principal, but she soon gave up. Toby was officially the teacher's nightmare of the second grade.

"_Pretty-please,_ Sarah?" Toby tried again. "Please, please, please, please, pleas–"

Sarah threw up her arms in defeat. "Alright, alright!" Toby grinned happily and stopped bouncing on the bed. "But…" his sister continued. "You have to promise to go to bed right after, okay?"

"Okay," Toby agreed quickly. "I promise." He made an 'x' over his heart just for show.

Sarah rolled her eyes and sat on the bed beside her brother. Toby scooted back on the bed to make room for her and pulled the covers up over his chest.

"Once upon a time," Sarah began. "There was a beautiful young girl whose step-mother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, and he wanted everything for himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl-" Toby made a face by sticking out his tongue and pretending to gag, and Sarah glared at him "-and he had given her certain powers. So one night, when the baby had been particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help."

Sarah suddenly jumped off the bed and crouched down in an imitation of a goblin. In a gravelly voice, she continued, "'Say your right words,' the goblins said. 'And we'll take the baby away to the Goblin City, and you will be free.'"

Toby laughed delightedly, and Sarah allowed herself a small smile of pride before plunging back into her story. "But the girl knew that the King of the Goblins would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever and turn it into a goblin. So the girl suffered in silence until one night when she was tired from a day of house work, and she was hurt by the harsh words of her step-mother, and she could no longer stand it… She summoned the King of the Goblins for help: 'Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, take this child of mine far away from me!'"

Sarah paused for dramatic effect and lowered her voice so Toby had to strain to catch her next words. "And sure enough, the Goblin King came and took the baby away to his castle beyond the Goblin City. The King then told the girl she could win her brother back if she could solve his Labyrinth in thirteen hours, but upon seeing the great maze, the girl turned to the King of the Goblins and said, 'Never mind. You can keep the baby – I never really liked him anyway. He used to put bullfrogs in my soup!'"

"_SARAH!_" Toby yelled at her. "That's not how the story goes!"

Sarah laughed and replied, "Who said that's not how it goes?"

"Sarah…" Toby whined.

"Well, I am the one telling the story, so don't I get to decide how it goes?" Toby crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at her. "Alright, alright," Sarah sighed. "The girl agreed to run the Labyrinth and defeated it with minutes to spare, and she won her brother back. The end."

"That's not the whole story, Sarah."

Sarah glanced at the clock beside Toby's bed and turned back to her brother. "Toby, it's after midnight, and your parents will be home soon. They won't let me babysit you anymore if they find out I let you stay up so late."

Toby still looked upset, but he conceded. "Okay, Sarah." He lay back in bed, and Sarah pulled the covers up over him so they covered his head. Toby flailed his arms wildly and yelled something that sounded like "Sarah!" but his voice was muffled by the blanket.

"Stop squirming so much, or I'll have to call the goblins to tie you down," Sarah threatened playfully.

Toby immediately went still and asked timidly, "Sarah?"

"Yes?"

"Get these covers off me right now!" Toby yelled as he resumed his thrashing.

Sarah laughed and leapt off the bed and out of arms' reach of the enraged seven year old.

"'Night, Toby," Sarah called as she turned off the light and slipped out of the room.

"Goodnight, Sarah!" he yelled in return.

Just as Sarah closed the bedroom door, it began to pour outside.

* * *

Nowadays, Sarah honestly didn't know what to expect when she came into her room. Last week, there were five goblins trying to catch an army of chickens and herd them back through the portal in her mirror. The chickens only left when Sarah threatened to cook them all and started waving an iron skillet over her head. Surprisingly, the chickens seemed to have understood her, and the room was clear in under a minute.

Sarah had then spent the next hour cleaning her room of chicken feathers, and she later found her favorite leather jacket was missing.

The week before that, she found the entire Fire Gang sitting on her bed playing Scrabble (though none of the words they put down were spelled correctly).

In the past six years, the Goblin King herself had never appeared to her (she wasn't counting dreams), but he did write. And send heaps of flowers. Karen and Sarah's father had though it sweet when Sarah's 'secret admirer' completely filled the kitchen with roses on Valentine's Day. Sarah, on the other hand, was annoyed that he sent the flowers just to show off that he could. He must have had a laugh to see her stab herself with all those thorns (she swore there were more on the roses' stems than was normal) as she cleared out all the bouquets. Sarah would never admit it, but the flowers were very beautiful. And sweet.

In return, she had sent a box of cookies with a note attached back through the portal with the goblins. The note read: _For the goblins. Love, Sarah._ He responded with a letter saying: _Thank you for the cookies, precious. I enjoyed them all, but next time I would prefer if you baked them yourself to show your undying devotion to me. Your humble servant, J._

These interactions were typical and purely fun – to see what sort of challenges one could present the other.

Even so, Sarah dreaded finding out whatever lay behind her bedroom door. With a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and pushed open the door to see… nothing. There was no on in her room.

She let out a sigh of relief, and then she saw the crystal on her desk.

Stepping cautiously into the room, Sarah closed the door behind her and walked to the desk.

The crystal was perfect. Flawless. Clear as an untouched lake and yet fragile-looking, like a bubble that could pop at any moment. Then Sarah remembered what magic Jareth had done with those crystals and drew back the hand she had unconsciously been reaching out toward it.

The crystal seemed to catch the light from her desk lamp and throw it out in an array of colors over the wood grain of the desk. It was truly beautiful.

Words from that night came tumbling back to her:

"_Look, Sarah, I've brought you a gift."_

"_What is it?"_

"_It's a crystal, nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. Do you want it?"_

Tilting her head, Sarah thought she saw shapes moving within the crystal. Setting aside her reservations, she reached out and picked the glass ball up and raised it to eye level so she might be able to see inside.

Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the room and thunder echoed outside. In surprise, Sarah dropped the crystal, but it disappeared before it had even touched the ground.

Shaking her head and muttering something about drinking too much coffee late at night, Sarah sat in front of the desk and looked into the mirror

"Hoggle. Ludo. Sir Didymus. I need you."

There was no response, and the mirror remained just a mirror.

She tried again. "Hoggle? Hoggle, I need you."

Still nothing.

Groaning in frustration, Sarah pushed back from the desk and walked across the room to flop down on her bed.

None of her friend from the Labyrinth appeared to her anymore. In fact, she hadn't seen any of them since the party in her room that night…. Sarah had once asked the goblins that frequently visited her if they had heard anything about her friends, but they couldn't even remember what they had for breakfast that morning. In a letter to Jareth, she asked about her friends. Her question never got an answer.

Outside, the thunder sounded again. The clock now read 1:00 a.m.. Sighing, Sarah rolled over and got out of bed, reaching for the lamp to turn off the annoying florescent light. Her hand paused in mid-air. There was a creature sitting on her desk. A goblin, to be precise.

"Umm… hello," Sarah said cautiously.

"Hello," the goblin replied, grinning from ear to ear. This goblin was short (even for a goblin) and had large eyes and ears. His nose resembled the carrot one children put on snowmen in the winter, but it wasn't orange. The creature was missing a few teeth, but its bright, toothy smile only made it look cuter. And it was wearing a… pillowcase?

"And I don't suppose you're Dobby the House Elf, are you?" Sarah asked.

The goblin looked confused as the grin slipped off its face, and it tilted its head to one side. "Me no elf. And my name not Dobby. I Herald." The goblin smiled proudly. _Herald,_ the goblin thought, _was a perfectly sensible and handsome Aboveground name_.

"Herald?" Sarah repeated, flabbergasted.

The goblin nodded enthusiastically. "That's me!"

"Umm… so what can I do for you, Herald?" Sarah rubbed her eyes. This was getting to be a much longer night than expected.

A blank look crossed the goblin's face for a minute. "Cookies?" he asked hopefully.

"You came here for cookies?"

The goblin turned away and hit his head. "No, no, no. King send me to… to… AH-HA!" Herald cried triumphantly. "Protect the Queen." He smiled again.

"Protect the…? I'm sorry Herald, but there is no Queen here."

Herald shook his head madly back and forth. "No, no. You Queen." He pointed at her. "Herald sent to protect you."

Sarah looked completely baffled. "I'm not a Queen, Herald. But you can stay here until the morning (or later in the morning) if you want. As long as you stay in this room. Okay?"

Herald nodded. "Okay!" He jumped off the desk and ran over to the bed. His head didn't even clear the height of the mattress. Herald used the sheets hanging off the side of the bed to pull himself up.

"Herald, that's where I slee-" Seeing the goblin already curled into a ball, Sarah cut off her sentence and muttered, "Never mind."

She flicked off the lamped and felt her way over to the bed. Carefully moving the sleeping Herald out of the way, she lay down and pulled up the covers.

_Some guardian_, she thought drowsily. _He's asleep before I am._

Sarah didn't even have time to wonder why the goblin was there before she slipped into the world of dreams.

* * *

**Please review! If you have any ideas for the story, I would love to hear them.**


	2. Why Goblins Should Not Make Pancakes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 2**

**Why Goblins Should Not Make Pancakes**

Sarah woke up the next morning to the soft light of the sun flittering through her bedroom window.

Stretching, she swung her feet over the side of her bed and trudged sleepily over to her dresser, pulling out whatever clothes her hands touched first.

After a refreshing shower, Sarah emerged from the bathroom to find the clothes she grabbed included socks, pajama pants, and a… pillowcase?

_Yes,_ Sarah thought as she held the garb up. _Definitely a pillowcase_.

Sarah wrapped a towel around herself and went back into her room in search of new clothes.

After pulling on a black tank top and shorts, Sarah stepped out of her room. The door at the end of the hallway was closed, signifying that her parents had come home sometime in the early morning. Deciding not to disturb them, Sarah tip-toed to the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. The clock in the hallway now read 8:30, so Sarah figured she had another thirty minutes until the seven year old ball of energy woke up.

The kitchen was lit brightly by the early, summer-morning sun. The kitchen cabinets had once been a pristine white color. That was until the goblins got to them. Now they were splatter-painted rainbow colors. To this day, Sarah still didn't know how the goblins had got their hands on the paint.

Of course, Sarah had been blamed for the mess, but she explained that this was her way of "expressing her artistic self" (she couldn't very well tell her parents that goblins had trashed their kitchen). Her dad had preferred the colored cabinets to the old white ones, but that didn't stop him from grounded her. Sarah had refused to let any goblins through the portal in her bedroom for the next month.

Sarah yawned as she stepped into the kitchen but froze mid-stretch when she saw a goblin sitting on the counter surrounded by broken eggs, spilled milk, and flour.

Sarah's sleep-deprived mind suddenly remembered the events from the previous night. And now Herald was in her kitchen, cooking. Or at least attempting to cook.

"Oh, shit," Sarah said.

Herald heard the sound of her voice and his face spilt into a large grin. "Queen! Look, Herald made breakfast!" He waved around a wooden spoon in his left hand, sending a yellow substance splattering onto the cabinets.

"Herald, what exactly are you making?"

"Pancakes!" he said proudly, and Sarah groaned. The mix sitting on the counter looked like anything but pancake batter. In fact, it looked as though it was going to jump out of the mixing bowl and run across the counter at any moment.

"Herald," Sarah began slowly. "You can't be down here, remember? No one is allowed to see you."

Herald's grin disappeared, and he looked crestfallen. "Not even the Prince?"

_Does he mean Toby?_ Sarah wasn't sure, but she answered anyway. "No, not even the Prince." Upon seeing Herald's dejected face, she added, "But why don't we cook a couple pancakes before he gets up?"

Herald grinned broadly again and poured some of the lumpy batter in a pan on the stove.

Sarah shook her head and then wandered over to one of the cabinets in search of coffee. It took her a couple minutes to find the coffee she was looking for, and then she turned back to look at Herald with the coffee can in her hand.

The goblin was sitting on the counter, blissfully eating what was left of the batter. And the glob of a pancake he poured in the pan was on fire.

"Herald!" Sarah cried.

The goblin suddenly snapped out of his revive and looked around for the source of the problem.

"FIRE!" he yelled, dropping the mixing bowl and running away across the counter.

"Put it out! Put it out!" Sarah screamed. She ran across the kitchen and grabbed the nozzle from the sink. She desperately tried to spray the flames but only succeeded in drenching the floor. Herald was still yelling.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Sarah cursed.

The smoke alarm started blaring and the sprinklers went off. The fire was put out in a matter of seconds, and Sarah was soaked.

There were the sounds of screaming and running upstairs.

Sarah scorched Herald with her best _you-are-so-dead_ look, and he cowered in terror.

"Robert!" Karen called from her bedroom. Robert was Sarah's father's name. "Don't worry! I have the escape ladder! Where's Toby? TOBY!"

"Herald," Sarah gritted out. Her voice was soft and dangerous, but Herald still heard her over the sound of the alarm. "Hide." The last thing she needed that morning was for someone to see the little goblin.

And then she stalked out of the kitchen.

* * *

The Williams family stood outside their home, each one drenched and very irritable.

Karen and Robert were pissed at Sarah for "starting the fire." Sarah was pissed at being blamed for starting the fire and at Herald and his pancakes. Toby, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. He was waving animatedly to the firefighters and police as they drove away down the street. The neon colored escape ladder still hung from the window of the master bedroom.

"That was so AWESOME, Sarah!" exclaimed Toby. "What did you do?"

Sarah glared at her brother, while Karen asked, "Yes, Sarah, what _did_ you do?"

"I was making breakfast." Anger colored her tone.

Sarah's dad sighed, exasperated. "I thought you took a home education class in school?" he asked.

"I guess it didn't help," she retorted.

"Obviously not." Karen looked pointedly at the retreating fire truck.

"I'm going to my room," Sarah said as she stalked back inside the house. All of the rooms were soaked and there was now a dark stain on the stove where the fire had been. The pan the batter had been in was now destroyed.

Sarah trudged up the stairs and closed the bedroom door behind her.

Herald sat on her bed with his ears pressed flat against his head.

Sarah's emerald green eyes were hard and merciless. "No. More. Pancakes."

* * *

Jareth sat on his throne with one leg draped over the edge. He tapped his ridding crop idly against his leg and considered drawing up another crystal.

_No_, he thought. He had already seen her that night, when she had been telling her story to her brother.

What was he thinking? He was a King – he had duties to attend to. The gods knew this kingdom was already enough mess as it is without him slacking off. He shouldn't be thinking about her.

Just then a goblin came running into the throne room, waving a letter over its head.

"Sire, sire! Letter from the Queen!" it yelled. The creature stood in front of the throne still clutching the letter.

"Well?" Jareth asked impatiently. The goblins stood stock-still. "Give it here," he ordered, holding out his hand.

The goblin immediately rushed forward with the letter held out, and promptly tripped over its own feet, and the letter crumpled underneath it as the goblin fell.

Jareth tapped his foot as he waited for the goblin to pick itself up. The goblin eyed its King's feet warily as it handed him the letter and then scurried out of range of the King's kicking boots.

Jareth nearly ripped the letter in his haste to open it.

_Goblin King._ That wasn't a good start. She never called him 'Goblin King' unless she was really mad about something. _That 'guardian' you sent to my room last night has nearly managed to burn my house down! You _will _pay for the damage he caused. –S_

Jareth stared blankly at the note for a minute and read it again. Then he began to laugh. Oh, how he pitied that poor goblin who would now face the wrath of Sarah Williams. He considered re-ordering time just to watch the incident with the fire himself.

The goblins in the throne room were staring, confused, at their King.

"Well?" Jareth asked. He was met with blank looks. "Laugh," he ordered. They did.

The King then drew up a crystal and looked into it to see Sarah yelling at the goblin. Then she paused. Her next words sounded like she barely had her emotions under control. "Herald," she said. "What are you _wearing_?"

Sarah hadn't noticed what the little goblin had been wearing that morning when he was cooking. His pillowcase from the previous night (the pillowcase she had found in her dresser that morning) was now replaced with a satin, dark blue garb. "Is that my _shirt?_"

_No,_ Jareth thought. _It _was _your shirt, precious._

The goblin seemed to sense the immediate danger and jumped off the bed and ran to the mirror with a terrified squeal. Sarah let him go and stood, rigid, staring at the spot where Herald had been moments before.

Jareth laughed again and threw up the crystal. That goblin was in for a whole hell of a lot of trouble.

* * *

**Okay, well this took my slightly longer to update than I originally planned… whoops. This chapter is really just completely random and pure fun. I'm still not quite sure how making pancakes fits in with my nonexistent-plot though… Hope you enjoyed it anyway!**

**So, on a different note that is not related to this story: all you Bowie fans who have not already seen the movie **_**Bandslam**_** must see it just to see David for about a grand total of a minute. That literally made my night (and proved just how sad my life is…).**

**Anyways, please review! It will only take a minute :) If you find any mistakes in this chapter, please let me know. And thank you to everyone who reviewed and read the first chapter!**


	3. Of Dreams and Lapdogs

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 3**

**Of Dreams and Lapdogs**

The music was playing softly in the background, almost like a lullaby. Dancers twirled around her as they spun in each others' arms.

She was wearing a beautiful white dress with large, puffy sleeves that made her feel like she was playing dress-up as a Disney princess, and a silver ornament was entwined in her hair. She was the only one not wearing a mask.

The other dancers parted for her as she walked through the crowd. She wasn't looking at them – their goblin masks or their scornful looks. There was… _someone_ who she had to find.

Her emerald green eyes briefly passed over every face, none of them the one she was searching for.

Then she saw him standing at the far end of the room. She recognized him by his distinctive hair, glinting gold and silver in the soft light. Strange that he, the villain in this tale, should be her Prince Charming come to sweep Cinderella off her feet. He lowered his mask and his mismatched eyes met hers.

_Such a sad love_

_Deep in your eyes_

And then he was gone.

* * *

As a dancer walked in front of him, he transported himself behind her. He watched as she whipped her head around, searching for him. He let her look through the crowd a few moments, taunting her by reappearing and then disappearing again. It was a nice change to have her chasing him, instead of the other way around.

He took a young woman in his arms and spun a few times across the dance floor, his eyes never leaving the mortal girl.

She pushed through a throng of dancers and stood, exasperated. She didn't understand why she was here. She felt out of place – a young girl in a woman's world. Old enough to play Cinderella, but not old enough to _be_ her.

_Such a fooled heart_

_Beating so fast_

A couple of dancers beckoned her over and opened a box. A snake jumped out and she stepped back in surprise. They laughed.

_Every thrill is gone_

_Wasn't too much fun at all_

* * *

He grew tired of this game of cat and mouse.

He was tired of waiting.

A fan moved out of the way, and he saw her standing in front of him.

She was by far the most beautiful woman at the ball. Her lips parted innocently as she looked at him.

He stepped forward and took her in his arms; one hand around her waist and the other holding her hand. His prize. His Sarah.

_I'll paint you mornings of gold_

_I'll spin you Valentine evenings_

_Though we're strangers till now_

_We're choosing the path between the stars_

_I'll leave my love between the stars_

* * *

He led her to the centre of the floor and began to twirl her around in a waltz. She tried to memorize the way he held her – as if he would never let go. She could feel his heat pulsing through her skin wherever his gloves touched. Her own hand lay in his and the other rested on his midnight-blue jacket that glittered as he moved.

He was singing to her.

_I'll be there for you_

_As the world falls down_

The others other dancers seemed to press in around them. Uncomfortable. Too close.

Then she noticed the clock behind his head. A clang rang out as the minute hand reached the twelve. She looked back at him. _Toby_, she thought. _I have to save Toby!_

The look in his eyes made her hesitate for a moment, and then she pushed out of his arms and ran to the edge of what she now realized was a bubble.

There was a chair next to the wall, and she grabbed it. She threw it at the bubble, and the dream was shattered.

_Falling…_

_Falling in love._

* * *

_Buzz. Buzz._ The phone vibrated on the nightstand. _Buzz_.

Sarah's eyes slowly opened, and she sat up in her bed. She had just had _that _dream again. It seemed that every night, Sarah found herself dancing in the Goblin King's arms. The only thing that had changed was now she didn't want to wake up. She didn't want her dream-self to break the crystal dream. It was almost as if… No, she couldn't be developing _feelings _for that arrogant, puffy-headed jerk! Her train of thought was once again cut off as the phone buzzed persistently. Blinking a few times, she looked at the clock. Just past three. In the morning.

Oh, what did she do to deserve this?

Sarah grabbed the phone and flipped it open without bothering to look at the caller ID first.

"'Ello?" she asked groggily. If this was John calling her this early, she swore she would let the goblin's chickens loose in his apartment. Now _that_ would be cruel.

"Sarah?" a voice screamed at her, and she dropped the phone in shock.

Bringing the phone back up to her ear she asked, "Yes?" before holding to cell as far away from her as possible when the voice yelled back, "Can you hear me, Sarah?"

_Who the heck could this be?_ "Yes!" she yelled back, deciding not to risk losing her hearing by bringing the phone any closer to her ear.

"Sarah! It's Herald! I figured out how to work phone!"

That goblin was _so_ dead.

"HERALD!" Sarah screamed. "Get in here RIGHT NOW!"

Sarah had gone back to her apartment after helping her dad and step-mom clean up the mess in the kitchen. She typically didn't sleep over at her parents' house, but last night had required her to stay late while babysitting Toby, so she hadn't felt like driving home at some ridiculous hour in the morning. Herald had returned about an hour after she yelled at him, and he then came to her apartment with her (she couldn't very well just _leave_ him at her parents' house, no matter how appealing that sounded). She still hadn't heard back from Jareth about this new nuisance she had to deal with.

Five seconds later, the little goblin came scurrying into her bedroom, clutching her house phone. Sarah changed her mind. Chickens would be positively tame compared to Herald. Setting _him_ loose would be cruel.

"Give. Me. That. Phone."

Herald obediently obliged. "Herald, you can't call people at three in the morning. In fact, you shouldn't be using the phone at all. Got it?"

Herald nodded sadly.

Looking at the goblin's dejected face, she sighed. Boy, what a sucker she was turning out to be. "Herald, how did you even manage to find my cell phone number?"

Herald grinned. "The em-r-gen-y list on the big ice box! Herald, dialed all numbers until he find Sarah's!" He smiled proudly.

Sarah blanched. "What numbers _exactly _did you call?"

The goblin's face scrunched as he tried to remember. "Uhhh… lots. Most just rang and rang and rang an-" Sarah held up her hand for the goblin to stop and Herald shut his mouth immediately.

"I get it Herald. No one picked up their phone." That's because it's three in the morning and no one in their right mind would be up.

"Well….," the goblin said. "One man answered. He asked me what my name is and for a problem. But don't worries Sarah, I's told him we have no problems."

"What number was that? It's important, Herald." _Please don't let it be the number I think it is. Please, if a God exists, have mercy._

"9-1-1," the goblin recited, crushing all of Sarah's faith in some sort of deity. She groaned.

First a poisoned-peach dream and now this. Maybe she should have stayed in the Underground after all.

* * *

The police had arrived at her apartment some twenty minutes later, and Sarah tried to explain to them that the "toddler" she was babysitting had accidentally dialed the wrong number, so there was really no need for the officers to come. The police gave her a warning about keeping the phone out of reach of children ("_Trust me, I won't let him near it again"_) and then left.

It was now nearly five in the morning, so instead of getting to slip back in bed, Sarah resigned herself to getting ready for work. She had gotten a job at a local publishing company that wrote children's books. Sarah sat behind a desk all day and drew pictures for the books. She enjoyed the work, but this job was just another stepping stone into the larger field of art. She hoped to create enough pieces to hold her own art show one day.

Sarah remembered to lock the little goblin out of her bathroom when she showered – the last thing she needed this morning was to have Herald see her naked. When she stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed, she found Herald sitting by the door.

He looked up at her with wide eyes. "You was singing that song Kingy always sings. Kingy always gets real sad when he sings that song."

She had been singing? She hadn't even realized… "What song, Herald?"

"You know… _SUCH A SAD LOVE DEEP IN YOUR EYES A KIND OF-"_ he belted.

Sarah clasped her hands over her ears. "Ahhhh! Herald, I get it! Stop singing!"

Being called Queen certainly had its advantages because Herald immediately shut up.

She walked to her cramped kitchen and searched through the fridge for something decent for breakfast. "Do you like eggs, Herald? Because that's all I have left."

For once the goblin was quiet. Sarah pulled her head out of the fridge to look at him. "Herald…?"

The goblin looked like it was about to burst into tears. "Queen eat _eggs_? Queen eat _CHICKENS?_" Then the Water Works started, and Herald was rolling on the floor crying.

Sarah silently cursed herself for forgetting the goblin's strange fondness for chickens. Kneeling down she tried to consul the traumatized goblin. "Shhh… Herald, please stop crying. I won't eat eggs."

Herald sniffled. "Queen likes eating chickens."

"No, Herald. Those were… uh, fish eggs. Definitely not chicken." _Fish eggs?_ Her inner voice was now banging its head against a wall. The first thing she could think of was _fish eggs_?

"Why don't we have apples instead?" she suggested quickly.

The goblin finally stopped crying, though his eyes were still wide and glistening with tears. "Peaches?" he asked hopefully.

Sarah flinched. She hadn't eaten a peach in six years for understandable reasons… "I don't have any peaches."

Herald looked disappointed, but he accepted the apple Sarah got out for him.

"Okay," Sarah said, standing up. "You're going to have to come to work with me because there is _no way_ I'm leaving you in my apartment alone."

* * *

Sarah pushed through the doors of her office building and waved cheerfully to her colleagues as she passed them. The large purse on her arm seemed to squirm as she walked and the top popped open so that a little brown head could be seen.

As Sarah sat down, Maggie (or Mag for short) came over to Sarah's desk and looked in the purse. Mag was an old women with wispy white hair and a rather ridiculous assortment of clothing. Today she was wearing a floor-length plaid skirt with a Christmas sweater top. Apparently someone forgot to remind Mag that it was now summer. "Whatcha got there, Sarah?"

Sarah was internally grateful that Mag was almost as blind as a bat. "It's my dog."

"Awww, how cute!" The old woman bent down and rubbed the little "dog" behind its ears. "And how are you girl?" she asked, addressing the creature in the purse. "Yes, you're a good doggie, aren't you? Good girl!"

Sarah stifled a laugh at the sight of Mag scratching Herald behind his ears. The little goblin was looking indignantly up at Sarah, but since he had been ordered not to say a word, he kept his mouth shut.

Sarah had dressed Herald up in a small vest (she had gotten it from one of Toby's birthday parties at a Build-a-Bear Workshop) and pink bow, and she had folded the goblin's ears in so they didn't look quite so large. He was no Chihuahua, but Sarah hoped he could pass as some sort of lap dog. Or mutt.

Mag then sauntered off to her own desk, and Sarah slipped her purse under her desk before anyone else could come and get a closer look at her new "dog." She had just booted up her computer when John appeared at the edge of her desk.

"Hey, Sarah," he said with an easy grin. John looked like an honest-to-god model with beach-blonde hair, a golden tan, and light blue eyes. He was also cocky, arrogant, and vain – almost like someone _else_ Sarah knew…

"Hello, John."

"Are you free tonight?" He leaned against her desk, leaning just a little into Sarah's personal bubble.

"That depends. Do you have anything planned for us tonight?" Sarah had been dating John for about a month now. In all honesty, she was surprised that the relationship had lasted this long. Most of the boys she tried to date had left after about a week for some reason or another: She was too preoccupied with fantasies; they acquired sudden, mysterious injuries while around her, the worst involving a car crash that broke the guy's leg; weird things happened around her (Sarah suspected the goblins were the culprits for this problem).

John smiled, "I was thinking dinner. I'll pick you up at 6:00."

"6:00? Oh dear. I seemed to have just remembered I have a terribly important yoga class then!"

He laughed and pressed a light kiss to her cheek. "See you at 6:00, beautiful."

It was only after he had left that Sarah noticed Herald was growling from under her desk. She ducked down and glared at the goblin. "Herald! Quiet!"

"Herald no like him. Kingy won't like him either. No, no. Kingy gonna be mad. Kingy gonna wear kicking boots."

"Herald, you have to be quiet! We talked about this-"

"Sarah?" came a voice to her left.

Sarah lifted her head and promptly banged it against the underside of the desk. "Ouch," she complained, rubbing her head as she turned to the speaker. It was Stacy, a young high school intern. "Hey, Stacy."

"What were you doing?" the girl asked, bending down to look under the desk.

"I… just dropped my pencil. Let's get to work, shall we?"

Stacy nodded and sat down in the chair next to Sarah's. Sarah pulled up the file with the next children's book she was illustrating on her computer. It was titled _Ling Po and the Terrible Flying Piranhas._ Wow. She could tell this one was going to be a best seller…

For the next five hours, Sarah drew cartoons and Stacy outlined them in pen. Though, of course, it was very hard to concentrate when masked dancers and a certain Goblin King kept flitting through her mind…

"Okay," Sarah announced as she pushed away from her desk. "Lunch time." Stacy's stomach grumbled in agreement.

Both girls stood up, but as Stacy began to walk toward the office's little kitchen, Sarah saw a very familiar goblin crawling across the floor. "_Herald_," Sarah hissed.

Stacy turned around, her blonde curls bouncing. "Did you say something, Sarah?"

"No, I…uh…think I see some earrings I dropped the other day over there. I'm going to go check." She set out in the direction of the goblin. Herald had now crawled behind a section of printing machines. Sarah bent down and tried to see the goblin in the shadows of the machines. "Herald! Come here!"

Then the power went out.

When the lights came back on, John would find his keys to his very expensive Porsche were missing.

* * *

**Finito! I finally added another chapter! Sorry this took me so long to write…**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and read this story so far. You guys make my day. :)**

**Next chapter should have Jareth's POV – hooray! I know I haven't exactly been following along with my original summary/plot plan, but I promise Sarah will get wished away sometime hopefully in the near future!**

**Until then, please review!**


	4. Autographs Anyone?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 4**

**Autographs Anyone?**

"_I wish the goblins would come and take you away… right now."_

"King! King!" a goblin came running in the throne room. "A summons!"

Jareth stood up and changed his clothing into his black armor with a throw of a crystal. "Take the child," he ordered. "I will deal with the wisher."

Jareth didn't always grace the wisher with his presence, but today he was in a particularly bad mood having just discovered Sarah had _another_ boyfriend, and he felt the need to scare the shit out of someone. With a poof of glitter, he disappeared and dramatically reappeared in front of the wisher. Which turned out to be in an amusement park.

Jareth frowned as he saw all the people bustling about, including someone dressed as a mouse. This mouse character was then followed by a duck and a dog. Sometimes the Goblin King didn't understand humans at all.

The wisher was a young boy about twelve years old. He was holding onto a now-empty stroller beside a bench.

When the boy saw the Goblin King, he frowned, "Who are you supposed to be?"

"I am the Goblin King," Jareth sneered.

"I've never heard of you before." The boy frowned in concentration.

"Really? Such a pity."

The boy glared at him before saying, "Excuse me. I have to go look for my brother." He gestured to the empty stroller.

As the boy walked down the street, Jareth called out to him, "You won't find him here." The Goblin King didn't seem to notice all the people stopping and staring at him.

The boy turned around. "You know where he is?"

"Don't you remember? You asked that the child be taken – I took him."

"Where? Give him back!" The boy's face was now turning red with rage. He looked around Jareth as if he expected his little brother to pop out from behind the Goblin King at any moment.

Jareth gestured to a door that was once the entrance to a candy shop but was now acting as a portal to the Labyrinth. "He's there, in my castle. Do you –" Jareth was cut off by a tugging on his cape.

He looked down to see a young girl in a pink dress pulling on his cape and staring up at him with wide eyes. She was holding an ice cream in one hand, and Jareth was pleased to note that his armor was now smeared with the rainbow-colored stuff.

"Mister? Can I get your autograph?" She held out a small book with the mouse character on the cover of it and a pen with a hopeful look in her eyes.

The Goblin King looked up and saw who he assumed were the girl's parents smiling proudly at their daughter for having the courage to ask him that question. Jareth, on the other hand, was completely baffled.

Wordlessly, he took the pen and flipped open the book. He saw names like Mickey Mouse and Cinderella. Was it normal for little girls to go around asking for people's signatures?

Jareth scribbled "The Goblin King" on a blank page and handed the book back. The little girl grinned happily up at him. Then he turned back to the boy who looked like he was about to burst out laughing. Not the reaction Jareth had been aiming for.

"Wait!" a man called – the girl's father, Jareth thought. "We need a picture!" He pulled out a camera and gestured for the Goblin King and the girl to get closer together. The girl grabbed onto Jareth's leg, smearing more of her ice cream on his tights (and Jareth was especially fond of those particular tights…), and smiled at the camera. The camera clicked, and the parents ushered the girl away. The photo would later turn out with a happy young girl and a flabbergasted Goblin King.

A line began to form with people asking for the Goblin King's autograph followed by a group photo. After the third person, Jareth recovered his head and extracted himself, marching over to the boy who was now clutching his sides as he laughed.

Grabbing the boy's arm he dragged the boy through the portal and closed it behind him. They were now on the wind-swept hill – the same place that Sarah had begun her journey.

"You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us – forever," Jareth growled before disappearing back to his throne room.

The baby the goblins had collected was sitting in the pit in the middle of the room, laughing as a goblin fought to get a cotton candy stick (presumably stolen from the amusement park) out of his nose.

Pooling himself gracefully on his throne, he summoned a crystal and threw it up so that when it landed, it changed his clothes out of the ice cream-stained armor he wore now. That was the _last time_ he was ever appearing to a wisher. Unless that wisher happened to be one very fiery, stubborn, beautiful girl named Sarah…

Summoning another crystal, the Goblin King looked into it to see the boy attempting to climb over the outside wall to the Labyrinth. Jareth guessed it would take him at least three hours to even get into the Labyrinth and then he would never make it to the castle. That meant Jareth would have to figure out what to do with the burping creature now sitting in his throne room.

Without a conscious thought, the image in the crystal changed to one of Sarah. She was in her apartment standing in front of her bathroom mirror and brushing on some light make-up. So she had another date tonight. Well wasn't that just _peachy_?

Jareth averted his gaze as she changed into a small black dress – there would be other times to get to know the more forbidden areas of her body, and he had no desire to do so through a crystal.

Then the doorbell rang, and Sarah was opening the door to a young man, maybe in his mid-twenties, who was smiling at her. To Jareth's anger, she smiled back. And she actually looked _pleased_ to see him.

_No,_ Jareth thought. This would not do at all. He thought it was time this mortal learned a lesson about dating _his_ Sarah.

* * *

John led the way down the apartment stairs, holding Sarah's hand the entire time. Outside, the air was cool and there was a soft breeze that played with Sarah's long, ebony hair. John's Porsche was illegally parked at the curb, but no one had come to tow it yet.

John walked around to the driver's side of the car without bothering to open the passenger's door for Sarah. Sarah frowned at this but stepped into the car anyway.

John had managed to get his spare set of keys from his house so that he could still drive his precious car. The engine rumbled to life, and then the car was roaring down the road at a speed far above the legal limit.

"John!" Sarah yelled. "Slow down! Are you trying to kill us?" She grabbed the door handle as the car took a sharp left.

John smiled at her. "I thought you like fast, baby."

Sarah glared at him. "John, slow this car down _right now_ or I will –"

"Will what?" he taunted.

"-tell Mr. Stauffer (their boss) that you're the one who's been stealing the unicorn figurines off his desk." Sarah smirked triumphantly.

John blanched. "You wouldn't." His tone was angry and disbelieving, but his foot let up on the gas.

"You know I would, _baby_."

John growled, but lowered the speed to what was legally acceptable. A couple minutes later, they pulled up in front of a tiny Italian restaurant. It was situated on the corner of the street across from a man-made pond with a fountain in its center. Sarah stepped out of the car and thanked the waiter who held the front door open for them. Maybe chivalry wasn't _completely_ dead. John grabbed her hand again as they walked to a tiny table in the corner of the room. Sarah read over the menu while a waitress brought over two glasses of red wine.

John was still holding her hand when he said, "Sarah, I just wanted to tell you –"

_SCREECH! _"What the-?" A man with an accordion stood beside the table as he attempted to play a song. Either that was his goal or he was trying to make the whole restaurant deaf.

The man took a deep breath and began to play the accordion again. Sarah wasn't sure what song he was trying to play, but it came out sounding like Jingle Bells.

John and Sarah glanced at each other at the same time, and then Sarah rested her face in her hands and tried to block out the noise.

John sighed. This was not how he planned the date to start.

* * *

Herald was crouched under the table where Sarah and John were sitting. King said terrorize John and that's what Herald planned to do. He held a fork in one hand and was trying to remember the best place to stab someone. Was it the leg? Or kidneys? Where were the kidneys? The little goblin couldn't remember…

Just then another man stepped in front of the table and started moving an instrument back and forth so that it made a loud screeching sound.

_Argh!_ Herald covered his ears. Did Kingy want him to attack this guy too? He'd certainly deserve it…

Herald saw the tablecloth resting over the table and decided it would be more effective at blocking out the noise than his hands. Grabbing the cloth, he yanked it down over his rather large ears. The cloth did little to block out the noise of the accordion or the sound of glass breaking as it flew off the table.

* * *

Sarah felt a tugging sensation under her elbows that were resting (most un-ladylike) on the table before the tablecloth disappeared off the table, followed by the two wine glasses that had been on top of it.

Sarah was able to jump back and avoid being splashed with her wine as it went flying, but John was not so fortunate. A string of swear words left his mouth as his white shirt was stained with red Pinot Noir.

To his credit, the man with the accordion barely even paused as the glasses went flying before resuming his song. Herald, on the other hand, screamed - startled, jumped up and hit his head on the table, and then proceeded to flail his arms widely so that the fork that was still in his hand stabbed something. That something happened to be John's foot.

"_Ahhhhh!_" John yelled. "What the _hell_ was _that?_" He leapt up, causing the table to flip over into the man playing the accordion, knocking him over, which finally stopped the music.

John bent over and yanked a fork out of his foot. He held it up. "Why the heck is this is my foot?" Sarah didn't answer him as she tried to get the table off the man. John didn't see the little creature running out of the restaurant, but Sarah did.

* * *

Jareth sat in the front seat of a Porsche as he tried to figure out how to get the car to start. He was holding the keys a goblin had stolen from Sarah's _boyfriend_ that morning. At last he found where the key was meant to be inserted, and the car rumbled to life.

The Goblin King allowed himself a self-satisfied smirk.

Shifted the car into gear, he slammed on the pedal, and the car jerked backward. Whoops. Wrong direction. Trying a different gear, Jareth stepped on the pedal again. This time the car moved forward. As he pressed harder on the pedal, the car drove into a pond. Jareth would have preferred to drop it into the Bog of Eternal Stench, but he thought it would make a much more interesting yard piece in front of the Italian restaurant where it could be seen…

* * *

John had had quite enough. He stormed out of the restaurant fully prepared to take his car and race back to his home. His best shirt had been ruined and he had just been stabbed in the foot by – apparently – a ghost or some sort of invisible creature. He had almost made it to the parking lot when, being the gracious boyfriend he was, remembered he should likely wait for his girlfriend. He turned around and impatiently waited for Sarah to walk over. No matter how beautiful Sarah was (and, God, she was beautiful in that short black dress and with her long black hair and emerald green eyes…), John was not prepared to go on another date with her like this one. No girl was worth getting stabbed in the _foot_.

When Sarah had caught up to him, John turned on heel and strode to the space where he parked his car. Only it wasn't there. John whipped his head around looking for it, and upon not seeing it anywhere in the lot, turned and glared at Sarah as if she had something to do with its disappearance.

Sarah merely pointed to a yellow trunk sticking up out of the pond in the front of the restaurant. The keys John had been holding clinked softly on the ground, and his mouth dropped open in horror.

In the middle of the pond, the fountain gurgled happily as though it were laughing at him.

* * *

**I'm not particularly happy with the way this chapter turned out, so maybe I'll go back and edit it later, but, for now, I'm tired of working on it.**

**Just in case you couldn't figure it out, the amusement park Jareth was at was Disney World, so people were thinking that Jareth was someone dressed up as a movie character (which he sort of is...).**

**I feel like I've been getting way off track from my original plot (maybe I should change what the summary says…), but writing about things going on Aboveground is just so much fun. :) *smirks* But at least I added Jareth into this chapter! Woohoo!**

**Please review and tell me what you think! If you catch any errors, please tell me so I can fix them because I only briefly looked over this chapter – summer has made me lazy.**

**That's all until chapter five, goblins! Enjoy!**


	5. The Bath of Lavender Fragrance

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 5**

**The Bath of Lavender Fragrance**

After seeing his car sticking up out of the pond, John had stormed off without another word or glance at Sarah. It seemed as though the goblins and their king had effectively ended yet _another_ one of her relationships.

Walking down the street with only a few streetlights for light and holding her high-heeled (well, now broken-heeled) shoes in one hand, Sarah was beyond pissed. After being abandoned at the restaurant, she had planned to call a taxi to take her back to her apartment, but as she dug through her handbag she realized that she had forgotten to bring her phone (or it had been stolen again by a certain little nuisance), and she was too embarrassed to have to go back in the restaurant again. So, she had resigned herself to walking home. Thankfully she knew the way, but she had conveniently forgotten how long the walk took and how her shoes pinched whenever she took a step. She was really beginning to regret her stubbornness at not going back into the restaurant…

Sarah huffed. "Are you happy now, Goblin King?" she yelled to know one in particular.

A white owl that had been flying behind Sarah landed on a streetlight in front of her. It seemed to shrug its wings as if to say, "What did I do?"

"You have managed to run the first chance I had at a decent evening this week! And you sent the goblin to 'protect' me! _And_ now John has a fork stuck in his foot, and I wouldn't be surprised with my luck if that accordion player finds some law that allowed him to sue us for _your goblin_ flipping a table into him (even if the goblin wasn't technically the one to flip the table)!" Sarah ranted. By the ending of her monologue, she was red-faced and even more angry (if that were possible).

The owl just looked at her with wide eyes. "_Hoot?_"

"Argh!" That was the last straw for Sarah. He could pretend innocence and play the cute owl all he wanted, but she wasn't going to take it. Sarah chucked one of her shoes at him. The owl took off from its perch just in time to avoid being impaled by a high-heeled missile, and hooted indignantly.

"_Damn it!_" Sarah cursed as she watched her favorite and most expense shoes fly into a dumpster that was conveniently placed behind the streetlamp. That could not have been a coincidence.

"Just LEAVE ME ALONE!" To show she wouldn't pay any more attention to him, she turned her back and pushed into the first store on the street.

_A bar_, Sarah thought. _Finally _something _is going my way tonight_.

She slid into an empty seat at the bar.

The bartender came over to her and leaned against the counter. "And what can I get for you?"

Sarah sighed and rubbed her face in her hands. "I don't care what you get me as long as it's strong and won't cause me to wake up in some random man's bed with no memory of how I got there. On second thought, scratch the last part. Just give me the strongest thing you've got."

The bartender eyed her as if she were already drunk. "Boyfriend break up with you?"

"Try being stalked by a mallet-haired, glitter-obsessed pervert and you'll be right on the money."

_Did she really just say glitter-obsessed?_ "Stalking, eh? I've got just the stuff for you."

Sarah wondered if there really was a specific alcoholic beverage to deal with stalking, but the bartender knows best. Hopefully.

After about…well, Sarah lost track of how much time she spent in the bar and how many drinks she had, but after a while, she was back outside and stumbling back to her apartment.

The owl was back on the streetlight when she came out of the bar. "Yyyou," she slurred. "Owe me a neww sssshoe."

If it was possible for owls to glare, this one did. It seemed like it was trying to say, "_I _wasn't the one who threw it, now was I?"

"Yeeah, but you're the reassonn I threw it." she retorted.

The owl rolled its eyes and then flew down to pick up the high-heeled shoe that had magically appeared outside of the dumpster. "Jerk," she muttered as she held out her hand for her shoe. The owl flew over to her wrist and landed on it, the shoe still in its beak.

"No! There is a _no touching_ rule, Jareth! Get OFF!" Sarah shook her wrist as she tried to dislodge the growth that now had attached itself to her. The owl hung on for dear life, tightly, but not so his claws broke through Sarah's skin. Even his owl instincts told him he was dead meat if he drew even a drop of blood.

Dropping the shoe, Jareth took off again only to land on her shoulder, hooting contentedly even though his life was probably now in serious jeopardy. Sarah reached up and took the little owl in her hands. It stared back at her with wide eyes. God, this look was even more pathetic and heart-wrenching than Toby's puppy-dog face.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" she sighed. She let go of the owl and allowed it to climb back on her shoulder. Sarah bent down to pick up her fallen shoe and then lightly stroked the owl's feathers with one hand. The owl/Jareth hooted again with its eyes closed. If he was a cat, Sarah swore he would be purring.

_Geez, _she thought, _I must be really drunk to be _stroking _the Goblin King._

By the time Sarah made it back to her apartment, she was right to just collapse and sleep in until dusk the next day.

She pulled her keys out of her handbag, and it took her three tries before she managed to insert it into the keyhole. Sarah turned back to the owl on her shoulder. "Shoo, Goblin King. There is _no way_ that I am letting you into my apartment. Go bother some other poor, unsuspecting girl for the rest of the night."

The owl glared at her and looked as if he would be protesting valiantly if he was in human form.

"_Shoo_," she repeated sternly, losing her patience.

After one last, unsatisfied look, he flew off.

When she was sure Jareth was gone, Sarah unlocked the door and walked into her apartment. Herald was sitting on the counter demolishing the last of the ice cream from her freezer, looking rather pleased with himself and a good deal rounder in the middle.

"I will deal with you later," she promised Herald as she stumbled to her bedroom.

Then she flopped down on her bed, fully clothed, and fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Sarah woke up after noon with a pounding headache caused from a hangover. She groaned as she sat up and checked her phone to find she had six missed calls. All from work. Served her right for get drunk at a bar on a Monday night. She had always hated Mondays. Come to think of it, she couldn't even remember that much of last night besides going into the bar (not even, to Jareth's dismay, her stroking a certain owl).

After calling in and saying she had gotten the stomach flu (it certainly felt like she had) and that she wouldn't be into work today, Sarah got out of bed and changed into some new clothes.

Sarah ambled into the kitchen to see Herald sleeping in the sink. Smirking, she turned on the faucet and watched him sputter as the water hit his face. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." Not that a goblin should ever be considered beautiful…

She let Herald rub the water from his eyes as she started making a cup of coffee.

"You," she said as she turned back to the goblin, "are in big trouble, Herald. What _was_ that last night?"

The goblin shrugged.

Sarah growled in response. "That is not an answer! You left the apartment when I _ordered_ you not to. You stabbed by boyfriend – well probably now my ex-boyfriend – in the foot with a _fork_, completely ruining my date. _And _somehow John's car ended up in a pond!" her voice rose in volume with every accusation. "You had better have a good reason for all of that, or I swear I'm driving back to my parent's house and throwing you through that portal in my mirror. Got it?" Sarah seemed to be doing quite a lot of monologuing lately.

Herald nodded and gulped. "Herald no like John. And didn't mean to stab in foot."

"Well that's a start," Sarah said.

"Was aiming for the kidneys," he added.

"Argh!" Sarah cried, throwing her hands in the air. "You were going to stab him just because you didn't like him? You're not Dr. Phil's mini-me, Herald. You can't just go messing around in people's relationships! Even if you don't like them!" This was why Sarah had no plans to have kids any time soon. Parenting and her was like water and potassium. In other words: you put them together and they go _ka-boom_.

"Kingy no like John either," Herald muttered under his breath.

Sarah paused pouring her coffee. "Of course. That complete git! He has no right! Goblin King!" she screamed. "You have no power over me, so stay the hell out of my life!"

This crazy shouting rage, of course, received no response from the owl (who was looking quite smug) now perched outside her kitchen window.

"Herald, I am ordering as your Queenie or whatever to not mess with John, or any other future boyfriends I'll will have, anymore. Capiche? Oh, and as punishment for last night, I'm going to dunk you headfirst into the Bath of Lavender Fragrance." This was as much a punishment (goblins hated baths) as it was a desire for Herald to smell like something other than dirt and wet dog.

As way of answering, Herald jumped off the counter and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him out of the room, only managing to trip over his own feet once (which was a new record for the goblin).

Sarah sighed, and then realized she was still pouring the coffee and it had now flowed over the lip of the mug and created a large puddle on the counter and her recently cleaned floors. "Just great," she muttered.

Looking up she asked, "And just what are you smirking at you overstuffed owl?" The owl just continued to smirk (it was amazing how Jareth could still do that in animal form), and Sarah yanked the curtains over the window.

Her cell phone rung just as Sarah finished wiping up the spilled coffee. "Hello?" she answered.

"Sarah, it's Karen, I wanted to ask you if you could babysit Toby tomorrow evening? Your father and I wanted to see the musical the _Phantom of the Opera_ before it leaves town, and we wouldn't be able to come home until after midnight."

Sarah wished she could go see the _Phantom_, too, but then Herald would probably tag along and end up dropping the chandelier in the finale instead of the Opera Ghost. Or he would set the theater on fire. "Sure, Karen," she answered. "I can do that."

"Thank you so much, Sarah." There was the sound of whining on the other end of the phone and Karen's voice returned, "Your brother wants to talk to you."

"Sarah, Sarah!"

"Hey, Tobes."

"Guess what?"

"You're ditching school today."

"No! …Well, yes, but that's not what I was going to tell you." Without pause, he launched into his story. "Yesterday a kid in my class, Billy or Willy or something, brought his dog in for show-and-tell and it went crazy and chased off the teacher! It was so funny! And no one even found out that I had placed the dog bones in the teacher's desk to lure it there."

Sarah groaned. "You are almost as horrible as…" she had been about to say 'a goblin' but quickly added "Puck."

"Puck? Who's Puck?"

"Never mind. He's from Shakespeare."

"Nerd," Toby snorted.

"Trickster."

"Dork."

"Monster."

"Toby!" came Karen's voice from the other end of the phone. "Say goodbye to your sister; we have to go the mall to get you some new clothes!" Boy, did she sound enthusiastic about that.

Toby, on the other hand, was not so excited. "Bye, Sarah," he groaned.

"Bye, Toby. See you tomorrow."

After hanging up, Sarah went in search of the goblin whose punishment she had to enact.

* * *

**Well, that was a weird, slightly off-topic chapter to write, but at least I'm finally back on course with the plot! (You'll see what I mean…). Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing this story! :) You guys are awesome.**


	6. Twelve Words Not to Say

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 6**

**Twelve Words **_**Not**_** to Say**

The afternoon sky was cloaked with a cover of gray and black clouds – a sure sign that it was about to rain.

The taxi Sarah was sitting in was just pulling up to the curb in front of her parents' house when the first drops began to fall. Sarah paid the driver and then stepped out of the car, attempting to shield her head with the novel she had brought with her. She ran to the front door and pounded on it.

The door opened to a soft yellow light, but before Sarah could step inside, her younger brother launched himself outside and into his sister. Sarah barely had time to utter a startled _ouch!_ before Toby's momentum had them both falling backwards off the porch and into a puddle of mud.

Sarah was covered head to toe in the mud, but Toby, who was now lying on top of her, was relatively dry.

"_Toby…"_ she growled.

"Hey, Sarah!" he said, his smile unaffected by her tone.

Karen stood framed in the doorway and called, "Toby, get off your sister and come inside."

"Yeah, Tobes," Sarah grinned. "Get. Off."

Her brother obliged, but before he had taken a step back toward the house, Sarah scooped up a handful of mud and flung it at him.

"Hey!" Toby cried indignantly as the mud ball hit him on his neck and dripped down under his shirt. "That's _cold_!"

"You're telling me," Sarah replied while quickly slipping around Toby and into the house before he could retaliate.

Karen rolled her eyes and muttered something about "bad influences."

Sarah's father came into the room. "Oh, Sarah, you're here– What happening to you?" he asked when he saw the state of her clothing.

"Your son happened." Sarah took off her shoes and then started to climb the stairs. "I'm going to take a shower now," she said as she glared at Toby who had now come in the house and we trying to hide a fistful of mud behind his back.

"Okay, hon," her father said. "Just don't forget to call if there's a problem and Toby's bedtime is-"

"Dad," she interrupted. "Don't worry. I know the routine."

Sarah had just made it to her old bedroom which still had some of her clothes when she heard Karen yell, "_Toby Jared Williams_ take that mud out of the house _this instant_!" Sarah smirked, but she felt a twinge of unease when she heard Toby's middle name – it was too close to another name of her past… And the name of the owl that currently seemed to be stalking her.

"_Goblin King_," Sarah ground out. "What the heck are you doing here?" she addressed the white owl sitting on the tree outside the bathroom window. _Why_ did the _bathroom_ have to have windows? "Go AWAY!"

The owl glared at her but made no attempt to move from its perch.

Sarah sighed and tried a different approach. "Jareth, will you please" she choked on that word as she said it "leave me alone?"

This time the owl gave a contented hoot before flying away.

"Sarah!" Toby called from the bottom of the stairs. "Hurry up! Mom said I had to shower after you!"

"Alright, alright! I'm hurrying!"

Undressing, Sarah stepped into the shower and let the warm water loosen her muscles so that she relaxed.

When she had finished showering and had dressed, Sarah stepped out of the bathroom to see a very irritated seven year old standing in the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest. "_Finally._ You've been in there for half an hour!"

"Sorry, Tobes," she apologized, even if she wasn't really sorry. That shower had been _nice_. "I'll make dinner while you're in there. Let me guess – mac'n'cheese?"

Toby nodded enthusiastically, forgetting to be angry.

In the kitchen, Sarah put a pot of water on the stove and turned the heat on, but waiting for water to boil was about as entertaining as watching paint dry, so Sarah found herself in her room for the couple minutes it took for the water to heat up.

Crossing to her desk, Sarah opened the top drawer and pulled out a tiny red book with golden lettering that read _The Labyrinth_ on its cover. She flipped through the pages and read, "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I had fought my way to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom as great. You have no power-" Sarah paused. For some reason she couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.

Sighing, she set the book back down on the desk and headed back to the kitchen, forgetting to close her bedroom door on her way out.

* * *

Herald was going to be in trouble for this. He was sure of it.

The Queenie had said to stay home, but what if something happened? It was this question that led Herald to make up his mind that his lady might need his protection. Thus it happened that he was holding on to the underside of the taxi that was driving to the Williams' house (he had been watching far too many spy movies that made him think this was a smart idea).

The car came to a halt, and Herald fell onto the road, unable to hold on to the taxi any longer. He heard the car door open, and from his crouched position, he saw Sarah step out of the backseat. The car drove away just as Sarah was tackled by her brother. After Sarah and Toby walked into the house, Herald ran after them and slipped through the door before Karen closed it. Upon entering the house, Herald dove behind a coat stand and watched Sarah go upstairs and later, her parents leave the house.

Herald stayed crouched like that for a long time – until Sarah came down the stairs, went up again, and then came back down and walked into the kitchen. Herald had been forbidden to enter kitchens after the pancake incident, so he couldn't follow her there.

Herald ran up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, and snuck into Sarah's room. From the hallway, he heard Toby singing "_Dance magic dance!_" from the shower, and Herald was tempted to go into the bathroom to sing with him. Thankfully, he chose not to.

When he came into Sarah's room, he didn't see anything remarkable – stuffed animals sat in a cubby on left wall of the room and the bed was pressed up against the back wall. What then caught the goblin's attention was the red book laying over the edge of Sarah's desk.

The little goblin excitedly made his way to the desk and attempted to jump up and grab the book, scowling when he discovered he was too short to reach. In frustration, he childishly (or is it golbinishly) flopped to the ground and sat with his arms crossed over his chest while he glared at the book accusingly, as if it was the _book's_ fault Herald couldn't reach it.

"Ah-ha!" he exclaimed when he saw Sarah's desk chair. Herald was able to grab the edge of the chair and attempted the pull himself up, while the wheels of the chair moved it back and forth.

"Stay still, chair!" Herald ordered as he tried to find a good grip.

Surprisingly, the chair did stay still, and Herald smiled proudly as he pulled himself on it. He didn't notice that the reason the chair was still was because it was now pressed against the wall. The goblin also didn't understand that now the chair was much farther away from the book than it had originally been.

Herald reached over and tried to grab the book, and the chair began to tip. "Just. A bit. Farther…." His fingers closed around the edge of the book. "Yes!" he whooped in triumph.

And then the chair fell down, goblin and all.

* * *

Toby had just come out of the bathroom, clean and fully dressed, when he heard the crash from Sarah's room. He made his way down the hall and was surprised to find her bedroom door open. Sarah _never_ left her bedroom door open.

"Hello?" he said, taking a step into the room. "Sarah?" Then he saw the creature on the floor next to a fallen chair and clutching an old red book.

"Argh!" Toby exclaimed. "What is that-?"

Frantically the goblin gestured for him to be quiet. "Ahhh! Prince be quiet! Sarah no likely if she finds Herald here! Not the Bath of Lavender Fragrance again!"

"Herald?" Toby asked as he crouched down to the goblin's eye level. "Is that your name?"

The goblin nodded and looked fearfully at the door.

"What are you?"

Herald's eyes briefly flicked up to the boy's. "I's a goblin."

Toby frowned. Goblins didn't exist. His mother had drilled that into him when he was younger. He could practically hear her lecturing "Your sister's stories aren't real."

"Don't worry," Toby said when the goblin's fearful expression didn't go away. "I won't tell Sarah you're here."

The goblin smiled – a grin that stretched across his entire face.

"Toby friend?" Herald asked.

"Um… sure." For some reason, Toby didn't find it that weird to discover a goblin in his house. In his sister's room maybe, but for some reason, Toby felt like goblins were a normal part of his life, even if he had just met this one. It just felt _natural_ to be talking to Herald.

"Why are you in my sister's room, Herald?"

The goblin held up the book, and the gold title flashed when the lights from the hall hit it.

"A _book_?" Toby would steal many things (gum, pencils, cookies, the occasional bike…) but never a book. "What's so special about that book?"

"Is _The Labyrinth_," Herald said as if that explained everything.

"The labyrinth," Toby muttered. "That's the story my sister tells me before bed! Here - let me look."

The goblin shook his head and stuck the book behind his back. "Herald's book."

"Give it."

"No."

Toby lunged for the goblin, and after a brief wrestling match, was sitting on Sarah's bed with the book clutched in his hands. Toby opened to the first chapter, but found the words were too big for him to understand and the font was way too tiny. After flipping through a couple pages, he sighed in defeat and closed the book. "I can't read it. But I remember how the story goes. The girl was angry she had to watch her brother so she said 'Goblin King, Goblin King! Wherever you may be, take this child of mine far away from me!' and he did, and then she ran the Labyrinth to get him back…" Toby trailed off to Herald's violent head shakes.

"Those ain't the words!"

"Yes they are!" Toby said defensively. "That's how Sarah tells it, so that's the way it is!"

Herald just shook his head again. "No, no," he said. "The words is: 'I wish the goblins would come and take you away…'"

"Toby?" came Sarah's voice from the doorway to the bedroom, and Toby's head snapped up to meet his sister's eyes.

"'… right now.'"

* * *

Sarah had just finished cooking dinner, and Toby hadn't come downstairs yet, so she called, "Toby? Dinner!" He didn't answer – or more correctly, didn't hear her.

Sarah walked up the stairs and was about to head to the bathroom to tell Toby to come out when she heard voices coming from her bedroom.

Confused, she walked to her room. "Toby?" she asked again.

Then her eyes widened in shock and fear when she saw Herald in the room beside her brother, and she heard the last part of his sentence:

"…right now."

* * *

**So I'm finally am back on track with the plot! (Or at least the plot that didn't exist until now). So, yes, poor Toby has been wished away **_**again**_** by a goblin, no less. As you may have noticed, I changed the summary of the story because the old one is no longer quite correct :)**

**Anyway, Jareth is in the next chapter! Hooray! I'm sorry that he hasn't been in this story very long so far, but I'm about to fix that.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:**

**Cybernetic Mango: yes… I love lavender too – probably too much for my own good**

**notwritten: thank you for always telling me to smile. I certainly shall**

**TheraSerenity: thank you so much! But please do not die from lack of oxygen because of me – I really don't think I could handle all the bills and lawsuits that would come with that….**

**hazlgrnLizzy: thank you – I'm glad you like it**

**CeliaEquus: you were originally right about the babysitting job… but now… maybe not so much :) And Capt. Obvious is an awesome nickname – you should use it more often**

**KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun: yeah, Herald never seems to get a break, does he? Though of course, that's mostly his fault…**

**Miriam1: well, you were right about the plot until I spontaneously decided to change it. Mwahahahaha! That makes me feel so evil :) And I'm glad you like the story so far and thank you for reviewing**

**And to everyone else: thank you so much for reading!**

**Please review! Thanks!**


	7. Return of the King

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 7**

**Return of the King**

"_I wish the goblins would come and take you away… right now."_

* * *

Sarah stood in the doorway to her bedroom and could do nothing but listen as Herald said those twelve words she thought she'd never hear again. The wish echoed in her mind – _right now, right now, take you away, right now._

The sudden flash of lightening outside the window brought her back to her senses.

"Toby!" she screamed. "No!"

Sarah ran into the room and tried to grab her brother, but he suddenly disappeared in a whirlwind of glitter, and her arms clutched around empty air.

"Herald," she said, turning to face the little goblin on the floor, not fully comprehending what just happened. "What have you _done_?"

Herald didn't seem to hear her as his eyes were glued to the bedroom window, which was now rattling violently on its hinges.

With a loud crash accompanied by a distinct _boom_ of thunder, the window burst open and the white owl that had been perched outside the bathroom window less than an hour ago swooped into the room. Sarah threw up her hands as the owl's wings beat around her face – never touching her, but much too close for comfort.

The wind suddenly died down and the storm quieted. Sarah lowered her arms but no imposing figure stood in front of her. Then a warm breath brushed against her neck and a soft voice whispered in her ear. "Hello, Sarah."

Sarah whirled to face him and found herself pressed against his chest. Instinctively, she moved to step back, but his hands wrapped around her waist and held her in place.

Then she really looked at him for the first time since he entered the room. The soft light coming from the hallway and outside the window made it just bright enough for her to see the outline of his angular face. Those eyes – the ones that made you never want to look away – stared into hers, one blue and one brown. There was a look in his eyes that made her think that the owl was still hunting for prey. Emotions swirled through his mismatching orbs – amusement, delight, hunger – before a wall dropped down and he adopted a look of superiority.

His hair was exactly like she remembered it – a light golden mane with tendrils framing his face, and his mouth was curved upward in his characteristic smirk.

"Let go," Sarah ordered.

"No," he breathed in her ear.

She raised her hand to smack him, but he grabbed her wrist before the blow could land. This, however, loosened his grip around her waist, and Sarah was able to slip away and put as much distance between them as possible while he was stilling holding her wrist.

"Bring back Toby. _Right now_."

He laughed, his eyes glinting in the soft light. "What's said is said," he said simply, repeating the words he had said to her all those years ago.

"Since when can _goblins_ wish away people?" she spat.

Jareth's smirk widened. "Since now, precious."

"_What?_ You have to be shitting me! You can't do that! That's not –" she abruptly cut off her sentence.

He grinned, knowing exactly what she had been about to say. "What, Sarah? Surely you weren't about to say 'fair'?"

That smug, feathered-brained bastard was _enjoying_ this! Her other hand flew up in a left hook, but once again he caught her wrist. She struggled vainly against him.

Jareth stepped forward, forcing Sarah to step back. Her back hit the bedroom wall. _Oh, crap._

"There is no way, Goblin King, that Herald can wish away my brother," she growled, trying not to be intimidated by him standing over her.

"And why not?"  
"That's not how the rules work."

"I am King. I decide how the rules work, precious. And I say that Herald can wish away Toby."

"Herald has no power over Toby. And neither do you."

"Oh, I think you'll find Sarah, that I _do_ have power over him." The smirk returned again.

"Give me the child." She could not believe this. That jerk was making up rules as he went! If goblins could wish people away, Sarah was sure half the children in America would be living in the Goblin Kingdom by now.

"No."

Infuriating bastard! Against her better judgment, she thrust up her knee with the intent of hitting him where it hurts most. He moved to the side faster than humanly possible and then pressed forward so his legs trapped hers against the wall. This was not worked _at all_ in Sarah's favor.

Beneath her anger, Sarah felt a strange new emotion swell up inside her chest – a fire – at the feel of him pressed against her. Before she could identify the feeling, she let rage and determination flood her mind.

"Back. Off."

He just smiled, but it was a darker smile now. Did she imagine it in the dark light, or did his eyes darken? "I don't see why I should. That was the third time you tried to assault me tonight, and I rather like this position."

"_Assault?_" she practically screeched. "You're the one who is breaking-and-entering, kidnapping, and sexually harassing! I should be swinging a baseball bat at your smug face!"

He _tsked_. "Such violence, precious thing? And what do you mean by sexually harassing?"

She looked pointedly her wrists still trapped in his hands and the way her body was pressed against the bedroom wall.

He leaned closer and she involuntarily shivered as his breath run down her neck. "I can do so much worse than this, precious," he whispered in her ear.

She gasped, and then narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare," she growled, but Jareth caught the way her voice slightly wavered. The words 'fear me' came echoing back. Somehow Jareth couldn't find it in himself to enjoy her fear as he had the first time he saw her six years ago. He tried to keep his face blank as he stepped back and released her.

"No, I wouldn't," he said. What did she think he would possibly do to her?

To distract himself from the feelings of love, lust, and pain swirling inside him, he turned to the goblin on the floor. The creature cowered under his stare, and pressed his ears flat against his head. He briefly tried to remember the thing's name before deciding it was unimportant.

"You know the drill. You have thirteen hours to run the Labyrinth before Toby becomes one of us forever," Jareth recited to the goblin. Though, of course, the goblin would probably like for Toby, or their 'Prince', to become one of 'us' forever anyway.

Sarah gasped from behind him. "You can't do that!"

Jareth growled. He was King. He could do whatever he wanted.

"And why can't I?" he asked, keeping his anger in check.

"He will never be able to defeat the Labyrinth!" she exclaimed, gesturing to Herald. "Toby doesn't stand a chance!"

"Rules are rules," he smirked.

"Rules aren't rules if you keep changing them!" she retorted. Oh, how Jareth loved her fire.

He pretended to think about that for a moment. Turning back to the ebony-haired woman, he said, "What if I make you a deal?" How low he must have fallen for the _Goblin King_ to be making deals. Kings shouldn't make deals with mortals – they should be obeyed, but at that point Jareth couldn't be bothered with the technicalities of politics. After all, her will is as strong as his and her kingdom as great…

"What sort of deal?" she asked in suspicion, her eyes narrowing in distrust. Smart girl.

"An exchange."

"For what?"

"I'll return Toby for…." He let the sentence hang in the air.

"For?" she repeated testily.

"In exchange for someone else."

"Who?" she asked, feeling she already knew the answer.

"You, Sarah. You for your brother."

She already knew what her answer would be. Of course she would save her brother. But she asked a few questions anyway.

"Will someone run the Labyrinth to save me?"

_Save me_. Jareth internally winced. It's like she thought of the Underground as hell. Well that would have to change.

"Of course," he answered smoothly. "Herald will."

She groaned. There goes her last hope. "And at the end of thirteen hours?"

"You'll be one of us. Forever." He relished the last word as he said it.

'_Forever's not that long – not that long at all_,' a sing-song voice chanted in her head.

"As a goblin?" When she first ran the Labyrinth, she was sure Jareth would turn her brother into a goblin if she lost. She could _not_ take being a goblin. No way in hell.

Jareth threw back his head and laughed at her question. "And why would I turn a beautiful young woman such as yourself into one of those dim-witted creatures?"

Sarah thanked God that it was dark out so Jareth couldn't see the flush that spread over her cheeks when he called her beautiful. She did not know, however, that Jareth had owl-like eyesight and could clearly see the rosy pink color flooded her face. He reveled in his ability to get that sort of response after her.

Ignoring the way Jareth had laughed at her and his use of the word 'beautiful,' she plowed on with her next question. "Can I run the Labyrinth to save myself?"

This caused him to laugh again. "Let's give someone else a chance, shall we?" Someone without even the slightest chance of winning, that is. He had no plans of losing Sarah again anytime soon.

"Make your choice, precious – time is ticking. Will you trade yourself for your brother?"

She looked around her room one last time and took a deep breath. "Yes."

He smiled then in triumph and what Sarah thought could only be described as joy.

"Come then, precious." He held out a gloved hand to her. He could have simply transported her to his castle, but he was no fool to pass up any opportunity of physical contact.

She glanced at Herald (who was still cowering on the floor) and placed her small hand in his.

There was a strong tugging sensation in her gut before the room swirled around her and faded to black.

* * *

**Jareth is **_**finally**_** in the story! Woohoo! Took him a while…**

**Sorry this chapter does not exactly fall under the 'humor' genre, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed and read the last chapter:**

**Akirasan215 - mwuhahahaha! I love cliff hangers :) thanks for the review**

**TheraSerenity – whoo! No lawsuits. Thanks. I guess now Sarah doesn't have a chance to punish Herald. But, of course, there's always Toby…**

**general zargon – thanks for the review! :) I don't think Sarah ever had a chance against the Goblin King, poor girl (or extremely lucky depending on how you want to look at it). I think she'll have to come up with something even worse than the Bath of Lavender Fragrance now.**

**KraZiiePyrozHavemoreFun – Jareth always does bend the rules. Naughty King.**

**notwritten – thanks for the review :)**

**hazlgrnLizzy – thank you!**

**phantomxxxxxxx – glad you like it :) hope you enjoyed this chapter too**

**helikesitheymikey – agreed about the guard hahaha. Goblins **_**shouldn't**_** be able to wish people away, but you know the Goblin King. Cheater. And I didn't even notice the 'prince' thing, so thanks for bringing it up – I like your logic about Toby being the Prince and Sarah and Jareth's kid being the heir – makes sense**

**freak-4-God – glad you like it! Was this chapter up fast enough for you?**

**Seriana-the-nymph – thanks, glad you think so**

**CeliaEquus – lol sorry if your sister finds that :P well, sort of sorry, anyway. Herald running the Labyrinth spells trouble, but he'll have a friend with him. Who has brains. Don't give up hope, Sarah!**

**~0~**

**Please review again (or for the first time if you haven't yet) and leave your comments, criticisms, and ideas! I would love to hear them.**


	8. BONUS CHAPTER: A New Plan

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Bonus Chapter**

**A New Plan**

When Sarah had shooed him away from the bathroom window, Jareth really didn't leave, but he did decide to give his future Queen her privacy. And yes, he was determined to have her as his Queen.

From a branch on the tree outside, Jareth squinted in his owl form to see the goblin he had assigned to protect Sarah through the window of the Williams' house. On the plus side, the goblin had yet to abandon his post. On the down side, he had yet to do anything good. The Goblin King was honestly surprised that Sarah hadn't kicked the creature out yet.

A glob of water suddenly fell out of the branches above him, dumping a bucketful of water on the owl's head. Jareth ruffled his feathers indignantly and glared at the branch. In the next moment, the branch had snapped off the tree and fell to the ground. Jareth had not anticipated that cutting of the branch would create a larger opening for him to get pelted by rain.

Unfurling his wings, Jareth took off from the branch and flew to the kitchen window that had a tiny overhanging above it. The Goblin King ruffled out his feathers before movement in the kitchen caught his eye. Sarah was rummaging around in the cabinets, looking for something. His heart sped up just looking at her. Did she know how graceful she was when she moved? How her black hair shone in the light? The way her emerald eyes sparkled?

Jareth saw her lips move and tried to interpret what she was saying through the glass. He had become quite adept at lip-reading from all the times he watched Sarah. And no – it wasn't stalking – it was observing. For her protection, of course.

He realized she wasn't talking, but singing. She must not realize that she was doing so because he never thought she'd sing "_As the world falls down. Falling…. Falling in love. I'll be there for you as the world falls down" _consciously.

Jareth decided it was best to take off before she saw him – he had enough troubles that night (damn rain) without being knocked upside the head with a skillet for 'spying.'

The Goblin King decided to fly up to the second floor, where he had last seen Toby.

Though the game of the Labyrinth had never really been about the boy, Jareth still took an interest in Toby's upbringing. The kid reminded Jareth of himself when he was younger. How ironic the boy's middle name should be 'Jared.' Sarah must have loved that.

Jareth saw Toby enter Sarah's bedroom – a room Jareth knew Sarah had forbidden him to enter. But Toby was naturally a curious boy (and one who defied the rules), so it was only natural for him to go exploring in the forbidden room when the opportunity presented itself. What Jareth did not expect to see was the goblin was also in the room. He watched the goblin and Toby interact. _The Prince's first talk with his future subject,_ Jareth thought. Toby seemed to be handling the presence of a goblin in his house fairly well; aka: he wasn't trying to stomp on the thing.

Jareth flew closer to the window so he might hear what they were saying.

His sharp ears caught the words (spoken by the goblin) "I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now."

If Jareth could smile in owl form, he would have been grinning from ear to ear.

Oh, yes, he thought. This would work perfectly.

He saw his raven-haired vixen framed in the door of the bedroom, and he whisked away Toby before she could reach him.

He flapped madly against the window and it burst open just like it had six years ago. He flew in and transformed back into his normal self behind her.

How different it was to see her with his own eyes, not the ones of an owl, or through a crystal. Her hair looked so soft and smooth, and her skin was light in color and flawless. From where he stood, he could feel the heat of her body in front of his.

A plan was already formed in his mind. This time Sarah would be his.

He knew she would do anything to save her brother.

He smirked as he whispered in her ear, "Hello, Sarah."

Let the game begin.

* * *

**Okay, so this was just a short chapter I suddenly decided I wanted to write to show what was going on in Jareth's head during an earlier part of the story. Oh, Jareth – that **_**is**_** stalking.**

**Anyway, though this is not technically a real chapter, please review! :)**


	9. The Adventure Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth or any of Jim's Henson's wonderful characters.**

**Chapter 8**

**The Adventure Begins**

One moment Toby had been in his sister's bedroom, and in the next he was in a large room full of goblins and chickens. The room appeared to be in an old building of some sort, with large stone walls and a high, sweeping ceiling. Toby hoisted himself out of the pit in the floor that he had been placed in with a bunch of pillows and saw an imposing throne at the back of the room.

Toby walked over and pulled himself onto the chair. The goblins in the room stopped what they were doing to stare at the boy who had the nerve to sit in the King's throne. King wouldn't be happy when he found out…. Shaking their heads, the goblins resumed what they had been doing (which consisted of drinking ale and throwing chickens up to see how high they could 'fly').

Toby had just settled himself into the throne with one leg draped over the side when he was suddenly back in his sister's bedroom. He blinked and then rubbed his eyes.

The boy saw Herald crouched on the floor. "Ugh. What happened, Herald?"

The goblin whimpered. "Kingy took Queen." He sounded miserable. "Herald gonna be Bathed."

"Bathed?" Toby asked incredulously.

Herald muttered something about a Bath of Lavender Fragrance when something clicked in Toby's mind.

"Wait, Herald, the King took _who_?_ Sarah?_"

Herald nodded.

"What? How? Why? What….?" This wasn't making sense. How could someone take Sarah?

"Toby got wished away and Sarah traded places to bring him back." Moisture started to fill the goblin's eyes. "Sarah gone!" the goblin cried, tears now streaming down his cheeks.

Pieces started to click into place in Toby's mind. "Wished away…? Herald…. _You_ were the one who wished me away! You're the reason Sarah's gone! Why you little-!" Toby lunged for the goblin that skittered out of the way.

"Wait, Prince, wait!" Herald yelled as Toby continued to chase him around the room. "Get Sarah back if I run the Labyrinth and w-" Herald was cut off as Toby's small hand wrapped around his neck.

"NOT THE BATH OF LAVENDER FRAGERANCE!" Herald screamed, kicking wildly.

"No, not the bath." Toby walked over to the open window and held the goblin out it. "You wished away my _sister-_!" His breath suddenly caught in his throat when he saw what lay outside the window.

It was a giant maze, bathed in orange light. Its endless passages seemed to go on and on to a point at the maze's center.

"Is that the castle beyond the Goblin City?" Toby asked in wonder.

Herald nodded as much as he was able before managing to kick seven-year-old in the groin.

"_Ow!_" Toby yelled as he dropped the goblin. Herald landed on his butt and sat still as if he was still amazed he had gotten free. Toby held a hand over the wounded area and glared at the goblin.

"Herald," Toby began trying not to let his pain show when he spoke. "You said you had to run the labyrinth?"

The goblin nodded warily.

"And if you win, I get my sister back?"

Another nod.

"And if you lose?"

"Queen belongs to King forever."

"Then you have to beat it!" Toby exclaimed.

Herald looked at him hopelessly. "Me's only got thirteen hours."

Toby ignored him. "And I'm coming with you!" he declared.

"What?" Herald asked, looking up at him sharply. "King no likey that…"

"She's my sister," he argued. And besides, he had always wanted to go on an adventure. The daring and courageous knight traveling to rescue the stolen maiden in the evil King's castle… Oh yes, this would make a great story! Maybe even better than one of Sarah's!

The seven-year-old set off down the great hill leading to the wall of the Labyrinth.

"Well, come on, Herald!" he called over his shoulder.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter was so short, but we can't spend too much time with Toby when we have to get back to Jareth and Sarah, now can we? (I **_**promise **_**they will be in the next chapter).**

**So there is hope for Sarah! I guess out of all people, Toby would have to best chance at saving his sister. That is until Jareth finds out he's Underground…**

**And Herald basically avoided punishment! Poor guy finally got a break :)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 7!:**

**notwritten, hazlgrnLizzy, helikestheymikey, Greenhemoglobin, Seriana-the-nymph, lady white roses, freak-4-God, phantomxxxxxx, and TinkLuvr16**

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**Please review! Got any ideas for new challenges in the Labyrinth for Toby? I really need to start thinking of some…**

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**P.S. This will probably my last update on this story for a while because tomorrow I'm having major back surgery for scoliosis. Wish me luck and I promise to update again as soon as I'm able!**


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